


Lovefool

by incredible_disasters



Category: Villains Series - V. E. Schwab
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Dom started this, F/M, He can't help it, M/M, Victor has instagram account where he anonymously posts his blackout poetry, but only because Mitch is a dork and v gay, he also babysits Sydney on the weekends, why? because Angie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-01-16 14:01:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18523009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incredible_disasters/pseuds/incredible_disasters
Summary: Victor has a poetry instagram account. Mitch is a fan with a lot of questions and a totally unexplainable  purely aesthetic crush because:"Listen, Dom, he has nice hands and great taste in music... and clothes. Blame my heart."





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is not the fic that I promised nor the one they deserve but I am a tired student and this is a short story that came to be because I don´t feel confident enough writing them. So take it as a test run of the characters for some better fic in the future. Anyway this shouldnť be longer than 10 chapters but we will see.  
> English is also not my first language and I don't know how America works so bear with me.

 

Victor’s finger hovered over ‘share’ shining in bright blue letters. There was no caption, it was a photo as any other. Not different in any way. There was no need to think about it. But he still felt a flash of regret when he finally tapped his finger on the word and posted. Flash of regret and a cold hand of soon-to-be-here irritation that poked at his temple ready to turn into a headache later in the day. Victor turned the screen off, put his phone display-side down and pushed it onto the far end of the table. It was partly hidden behind his half-finished coffee and strewn around contents of Sydney’s pencil case. It was just perfect.

Sydney sat across of him, chewing on the end of her pen. Few strands of her light hair fell into her eyes, but she was far too consumed by her chemistry homework to notice. She didn’t move since they got there- there was not a line written by her on the paper. They were here for almost 3 hours already. It was miserable. She was supposed to balance out list of chemistry equations – both redox and non-redox reactions. It wasn’t hard, but Victor was a scientist, planning to be doctor even, and Sydney was more of an artist. But she was smart and so he thought she will figure it out eventually.

But it’s been three hours, they still weren’t allowed to go back, and Victor decided 2 months ago that he might as well help her with school if she will want it since he had to look after her 3 to 4 times a week, so Eli would get laid.  She was just too stubborn to ask him for help and he was just fine with blacking out the rest of his parents’ newest book.  It laid open on the table right in front of him. He was right in the middle of it. Left side perfectly blacked out, his parents’ words rewritten to his liking, right side still untouched. Between them laid a single marker, dividing them. It was the only one still working. The other three, that were mixed with Sydney’s drawing supplies and gel pens, didn’t work. He picked up the working one, looked at the page and then his phone dinked. Victor closed the marker with a cap and laid it aside. Closed the book, put it into his bag and picked his phone up. He hoped it was Eli.

It wasn’t.

 It was someone very much different.

**Angie:**

**Would it kill you to not be edgy for one day?**

**Anyway, I am glad I don’t have to call you at 3 am again to remind you of our deal.**

**And go like my comment xx.**

Victor stared at the message for a while, re-reading it over again. He felt his lips turn upwards and forcefully stopped them. He was not going to laugh at the memory of Angie face-timing him at 3 in the morning. It was horrible. And everything about it was her fault. She made him start the account, originally to make fun of all the serious instagram poetry accounts, but it got out of hand fast. And now he had DMs full of people and an obligation to keep posting. For some reason Angie got offended when he tried to end it, because ‘ _but, Vic, listen, I’m not in Merit anymore and you won’t tell me how you are if I don’t physically pull it out of you, so you will keep posting so we can keep in contact’_.

She was right. In a way. They didn’t talk very often since she switched schools and moved out of Merit, but they texted each other anytime he posted. Okay, well, she texted him and he didn’t ignore her.

He reluctantly tapped the instagram icon and went to see the comments on his newest post. Victor quickly found Angie’s and put heart on it. A notification popped up.

**mitchturner_ sent you a message**

Victor blinked and opened it, thanking Instagram for not putting read on it immediately.

**mitchturner_: What kind of paper do your books have? Because once I accidentally made a line with sharpie and it bled through two pages.**

Victor thought about it for a moment. He almost never answered DMs because most of them were either from people who wanted to get to know him or from people that sent him nudes and thought he was going to answer that. Sometimes combination of the two. He blocked most of them immediately.

But something about this felt different. Like a genuine question. He went through the guy’s profile and decided that he could answer him. He could always block him afterwards.

Victor quickly came up with some neutral way to answer. One that didn´t sound too passive aggressive but wasn´t exactly friendly either but loud snap stopped him before he could even accept the message request. He looked up from his phone screen.

Sydney set before him in a mild shock. Now cap-less red pen fell out of her hand. Victor gave her unimpressed stare. She shrugged, blowing a strand of her light hair out of her face. Then she looked around, leaned slightly over the table and half whispered.

“I didn´t know that would happen.”

Victor leaned in too and whispered back.

“Human teeth are capable of a bite force of around 170 pounds but that doesn’t mean you should try things like this.”

She huffed and slumped in her seat, arms crossed.

“I need a new pen.”

Victor glared at her, then at the amount of gel pens, pencils and other stationary that was covering almost all the table on her side.

“Really? Just use one of these. It´s not like you will write anything with it anyway. You´ve been at this for 3 hours and done nothing.”

Sydney puffed her cheeks and pouted.

“You shouldn’t be mean to me, I´m like your only other friend besides Eli and at this point his status is questionable to say the least. Beside you need new sharpies anyway.”

Victor smiled. She knew that smile well. It was his tell. A quite unfortunate tell-tale sign signaling that he was about to lie.

“You´re thirteen-year-old girl I have to babysit, not my friend.”

“And you’re asocial but I don´t use that against you because it´s not something you can change.”

Victor felt sudden urge to roll his eyes but didn´t do it. He also felt the young waitress eyeing their table. Him specifically. She was doing it for last hour. It would be best to leave before she decided to try and strike a conversation. He wasn´t in the mood for listening to awkward flirting that would ultimately end in him being annoyed and her trash talking him in front of her friends later.

He reached for his coffee but put it down before he could take a sip. A piece of red plastic floated on the surface, taunting him.

Victor sighed and threw his things into his bag. Sydney smiled like she knew she had won even before he said anything.

“Let’s go then.”

They took their things, Victor left a 25-dollar bill on the table for the jittery and now slightly disappointed waitress to collect, Sydney put her favourite red jacket on and they left out of the door.

When they were sitting on a bus, headed towards Victor’s personal favourite stationary shop (it had enough of colorful stuff to keep Sydney busy and sold a 6-packs of sharpies for laughable price), Victor pulled out his phone where his Instagram DM’s were still open. He hit accept and answered Mitch Turner’s question.

**mitchturner_: What kind of paper do your books have? Because once I accidentally made a line with sharpie and it bled through two pages.**

**victxrixus: Self-help books. They print them on freakishly thick paper, so people feel like their decision to buy a book that will magically resolve all their problems was a good one. They must feel that throwing 30 Dollars out of the window is reasonable and best possible thing to do.**

**victxrixus: “Wow, this paper is such a great quality. Buying this will totally make the quality of my life better.”**

The message stated sent before it was marked read few seconds later and the type bubble popped out.

**mitchturner_: “Why should I go see a licensed professional when I can buy a book from some lifestyle guru, who moved to tropical island _to live his life the only right way_ , for 30 Dollars, which will change my whole life instantly the moment I open it.”**

Victor’s lips twitched upwards when he read it. Lifestyle gurus living on tropical island – when he was a kid he imagined a lot of different reasons why his parents couldn’t be home with him. He stopped when he was old enough to understand that they simply didn’t care but the image of _the famous Vales_ (or as famous as one could get writing self-help books) sitting under the palm tree with ukuleles and flower crowns, in all white clothes, singing about peace and _How to raise a perfect child_ , would stick with him for a while.

He decided that he could give Mitch Turner a chance.

A good friend was, after all, very hard to find.


	2. Chapter 2

It’s been three months.

Mitch has been talking to him for three months. More or less anyway. Sometimes they would talk for hours, other times Mitch would have to wait for a day or two before he would get a text back.

He knew three main things about the guy behind his favourite instagram account:

 

  1. His name was Victor (which he told Mitch through a pun of all things)



**_mitchturner_ :_ ** _so, what’s your name anyway? If I can ask?_

 **_victxrixus :_ ** _you can ask but did you earn it?_

 **_mitchturner_ :_ ** _do I need to win a battle for you to earn it? Or do you take blood sacrifices?_

 **_victxrixus :_ ** _battle or two is fine, they’re won by victors after all_

 **_mitchturner_ :_ ** _…_

 **_mitchturner_ :_ ** _don’t tell me you just_

 **_mitchturner_ :_ ** _please don’t tell me your name is Victor_

 **_victxrixus :_ ** _nice to meet you, Mitchell Turner_

  1. He lived in Merit (which Mitch knew even before he told him) and went to Lockland (pre-med, not literature how he initially thought)
  2. He did not believe in Mitch’s curse (that was expected because no one really did)



 

He was also 3 years and 6 months younger, but Mitch didn’t really think that it mattered. The thing that mattered, big time mattered, was the fact that Mitch fucked up.

Or he didn’t, and it was just his curse. Or it all could’ve been Dominic’s fault. Mitch really needed to remember to refuse next time Dom asked him to test out his custom drinks.

 

_(“C’mon, Big guy, I’m good at this. I should’ve become a bartender instead of going to college. At least I would be less broke.”)_

He really wasn’t good. And Mitch could only pray that he wouldn’t become a bartender otherwise he would have to hack into whatever bar Dom would end up in and leak some stuff that would shut it down. Or blackmail the owner so he wouldn’t put Dom behind the bar. For the well-being of others, of course.

 

He still didn’t quite get how he survived the night without being hospitalized because of alcohol poisoning. He did manage to do other dumb stuff instead.

 

_(“You’ve been stalking that account for 6 months. I love you, guay, I do, but this is getting painful to watch. Just send a DM, the worst that could happen is that he won’t read it.”)_

 

Well, jokes on him because Victor did read it and he kept on reading and answering, and they talked and talked.

 

And leave it to Mitch to fall in fucking love.

 

Well, fine, maybe love was a bit of a strong word but that didn’t change the fact that he was still crushing even harder than before. It only seemed to be easier now, since he knew his name and they talked about jazz and old movies Mitch liked or about their respective roommates. Sometimes Victor would sent him poems he wouldn’t post.

 

(Like that one time when they talked about some politician making stupid statement in the newspapers which angered Mitch a lot and the next day he received a photo of said article that Victor turned into one of his black out poems, claiming he left his usual book at home and had nothing else to destroy)

 

Honestly, it still shouldn’t have been so easy. He had never met him. Never saw his face.

 

Not that seeing his face would change anything, Mitch was more of a personality guy anyway. But it would be nice, he supposed, to go out, maybe grab a coffee. Nice and completely unrealistic, left for Mitch’s late-night dreaming.

 

Like today.

 

He spent last hour just laying on the couch, listening to some jazz album Victor talked about (personally Mitch liked swing just a tiny bit more, but he would happily listen to screamo if that would be what Victor liked) and imagining how fun it would be to just hang out. He did that a lot recently.

 

His train of thought was cut off by a sound of keys twisting in the lock. Mitch sat up and glanced at the digital clock on the kitchen island. 8:30 pm. Dom was late. Second later he kicked the door open and fell through the door. Mitch shoot to his feet.

 

“What the fuck, dude.”

 

Dominic shot him an angry glare and tried to balance out his weight. He was standing on one leg while simultaneously trying to close the door with his other one. While holding two full backs of groceries.

 

“Maybe stop brooding and gimme a hand, dude?”

 

Mitch just shook his head, took one of the bags and closed the door.

 

“Whatever, man.”

 

He laid the bag down onto the counter and started to put the groceries away. Dominic joined him a bit later. They soon fell into an easy conversation.

 

“Anyway, Mrs. Hernandez down the corridor asked me to ask you if you can stop by later because her computer is not working again.”

 

Mitch glanced at him, eyebrows raised.

 

“Did you ask if she tried to turn it off and on? Or if she had dismantled it and tried to reassemble it because her mouse wasn’t moving like the last time?”

 

Dominic snorted and pulled out a can of coke and a carton of chocolate milk out of the fridge. He opened both and poured the milk into an empty glass.

 

“No, but she will either give you money or a bag full of tamales, so you will go there if you like it or not. Do it for your friend.”

 

Mitch just shook his head, sighed, grabbed the glasses and went to sit on the couch.

 

“I would appreciate the money more right now.”

 

Dominic dropped down next to him and turned the TV on.

 

“Well, you know, maybe she will say a good word about you to her friends and you will be an occasional I.T. help to the whole block.” Dom wiggled his eyebrows at him and grinned.

 

Mitch rolled his eyes and took a sip of his chocolate milk.

 

“I’d rather go and hack some old money guy’s bank account than spend all my time doing that.”

 

Dominic laughed and patted Mitch’s shoulder.

 

“If you ever do, I want to see at least $1000 on my bank account the next day.”

 

Mitch felt his eyebrows shoot upward.

 

“Really, Dom? Just 1000?”

 

Dominic shrugged and grinned at him.

 

“That’s still two zeros more than I currently have.”

 

They fell into a comfortable silence and watched some crappy crime show that was currently on. Slowly falling asleep.

 

Sometime later in the night Mitch felt his phone vibrate. He fished it out of his pocket and looked at the notification. If he felt sleepy before, it was all gone now.

 

 **victxrixus** **sent you a message**

 

Mitch quickly opened it. Maybe too quickly but whatever, he has waited two days, he could enjoy things.

 

**victxrixus : what am I supposed to do for 2 hours in south Merit?**

 

Mitch glanced at the clock. One in the morning. He furrowed his eyebrows.

 

**mitchturner_ : right now, or later? Because if right now then the first thing would probably be to get out. You don’t wanna be in south Merit at this hour.**

**victxrixus : later**

**victxrixus : in 10 hours to be specific**

 

Dominic peered over his shoulder and mumbled.

 

“Ask him out.”

 

Mitch shot him a disbelieving glare.

 

“What? No!”

 

“Why not? It’s close. You have nothing better to do unless you want to spend whole afternoon at Mrs. Hernandez’s. And I’m tired of watching you being obsessed with the no face guy. I mean, at least your crush will have a face now.”

 

Mitch looked at Dominic and then at his phone. Then at Dominic again and considered what he said. He could give it a try, it’s not like it would change much and this way h could just say he didn’t want something bad to happen to Victor.

 

**victxrixus :  it can’t be that bad can it? I heard things but if it would be that bad, they wouldn’t send a bunch of middle schoolers there for an excursion, right?**

**mitchturner_ : on the scale from 1 to 10 how uptown do you look?**

**victxrixus : I don’t live in uptown**

**mitchturner_ : but?**

**victxrixus : you know where I can spend those two hours or not?**

**mitchturner_ : I know a place, a coffee shop not far from the subway stop**

**victxrixus: isn’t there more than one subway stop?**

**mitchturner_ : well, yeah, but you know, the “main” subway stop, the one close to the tech museum**

**victxrixus : that’s actually perfect, address?**

 

Dominic had his face almost through his screen now.

 

“Great, now tell him that it’s hard to find and that you could show him.”

 

Mitch raised an eyebrow at him. _Really?_ Dom raised his hands in a mock defense.

 

“Okay, okay, I know what you’re thinking right now but trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

 

“Like you knew what you were doing the last time you tried to be a bartender?”

 

Dominic pouted and smacked his shoulder.

 

“No, now I actually mean it.” Mitch rolled his eyes and typed in the answer.

 

**mitchturner_ :  it’s kind of hard to find**

**mitchturner_ : which is why it’s great, but you can easily miss it if you don’t know where exactly it is**

**mitchturner_ : so, I can either send you the address or maybe meet you by the museum and show it to you?**

 

There was a pause from Victor’s side and Mitch felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest. But then the typing bubble popped out and second later a message appeared.

 

**victxrixus : okay, sure, I’ll be on the stairs around 1:15 pm**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next: how to deal with your crush being even better irl than you could ever dream of

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is appreciated and welcomed.


End file.
